


Spaces

by garands



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, It's kinda sad tbh, No one actively dies, War AU, angsty, or ww2 england, soldier zuko, think mid 50s america
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-13 01:19:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18458507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garands/pseuds/garands
Summary: "The last time she’d seen him was seven months ago, when the draft had first begun. He’d received a letter in the mail and not even two days later he was being evaluated. Zuko, the gentlest soul Katara had known, was being drafted into a war.She would spend the next four days consoling him and baking him lemon pound cake - his favorite."





	1. a stand still

**Author's Note:**

> hello to the two of you still here, i listened to tom misch's "movie" too many times and the opening monologue spoke to me. i hope i didn't trash it.

The train station was bustling with activity. The men were finally coming back from the war. But she couldn’t see him. The distinctive black hair and kind eyes she knew so well escaped her. Families were being reunited; lovers hugged and kissed on the platform; and there she stood - alone, scouring the faces for the one she so desperately wanted to see.

-

The last time she’d seen him was seven months ago, when the draft had first begun. He’d received a letter in the mail and not even two days later he was being evaluated. Zuko, the gentlest soul Katara had known, was being drafted into a war.

She would spend the next four days consoling him and baking him lemon pound cake - his favorite.

-

The walk to the station was dreadful. The foggy weather made their situation distinctively harrowing. She remembered gripping his hands so tight she could feel his pulse. She didn’t want him to go. She put her cheek to his, feeling the day old stubble scratch at her smooth skin.

And then he was gone.

No words were exchanged, no glances. He turned and got on the train. Every step he took knocked the air out of her lungs,

Katara wanted to badly to yell at him to stop, to run to him, to take him in her arms and beg him to stay. To tell him how much she adored him, how much she cared for him. But she couldn’t. He wouldn’t. No matter how much she pleaded he would go.

The train departed.

She swallowed a sob and turned, walking back toward the commons… where life was happening as usual.

-

She waited for hours. Sitting under the light of an old lamp, watching families and lovers reunite. At half past nine she left, wondering if she would ever see him again.


	2. a dance of sorts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’ve come by a few times, but I’ve just never seen you here before. I would’ve remembered.”  
> Was he flirting with her? Her cheeks felt unusually warm.  
> “Are you flirting with me?”  
> “Only if you want me to be.”

The first time Katara saw Zuko he’d been limping around the hospital she was training in.

 She eyed the stranger warily from the nurse’s station, wondering why someone who should probably be in the downstairs emergency response bay was wondering around the isolated recovery unit.

He checked a slip of paper in his hand before giving her a nervous smile and approaching her desk.

“Hi, can I help you?” She asked.

He was pretty, she noted. He had delicate features despite his muscular frame. His left eye was scarred badly - a burn of sorts - but the tissue seemed to have healed years ago. Whatever treatment he was seeking must’ve been for another ailment.

“Yes, actually. I’m looking for Iroh Hotaru. I was told he’d be in this wing,” he said.

A flash of recognition hit her. “Oh! Uncle Iroh!”

She hadn’t noticed a resemblance, but then again, she didn’t look much like Sokka so who was she to judge. “Are you his nephew?”

Iroh spoke about his nephew almost as much as he spoke about the individuality of tea leaves. He wasn’t what she was expecting. He was dark and broody where Iroh was bright and chatty.

“Yup, that’s me,” he shrugged, embarrassed. “What’s he been saying about me?”

“He claims you’re a wonderful singer and good only for brewing tea,” she ruffled through her files in search of Iroh’s discharge papers. “He says you’re hard on the outside, but soft on the inside… ‘like a turtle.’”

He scoffed. “I am not soft.”

Katara found the slip of paper and promptly turned it toward him. “I need you to sign the bottom line – it’s basically explaining that you’re his support system and that you’re the one taking him home, all the good stuff.”

He scribbled something illegible on the paper and handed it back to her.

“What’s your name again?”

“Katara.”

“How long has my uncle been a pain in your ass, Katara?” He leaned against the desk, presumably to rest his bad leg.

“He hasn’t been a pain at all, he’s actually quite the charmer. Aki, his roommate, has taken quite a liking to him,” Katara snorted. “He’s not been a bother _at all_.”

Zuko grimaced, he was not particularly fond of the image Katara was hinting at.

She filed the papers away, giving him her full attention. He squirmed under her gaze – it was calculating, as if she was trying to diagnose him.

“What happened to your leg, if you don’t mind me asking?” Katara leaned over the edge of her desk and saw his right ankle wrapped with a cloth.

He ducked his head down, avoiding the question.

“You can tell me. I’m a professional, it’s my job to treat injuries,” she gave him her best _I_ _promise I won’t laugh at you_ face and waited.

“I climbed up into a tree to rescue a cat and fell off,” Zuko mumbled.

“That’s very noble of you,” she said softly. “Have you gotten it checked out?”

He shook his head. “Hospitals freak me out a little, it’ll heal by itself… probably.”

Katara raised her brow. “That explains why I’ve never seen you visit before.”

“Hey now, that’s just not correct.” He looked at her then, really looked at her. Their eyes met in a moment too intimate for two strangers. “I’ve come by a few times, but I’ve just never seen you here before. I would’ve remembered.”

Was he flirting with her? Her cheeks felt unusually warm.

“Are you flirting with me?”

“Only if you want me to be.”

The nervous stranger from earlier was gone, Iroh’s nephew (whose name she had yet to ask for) was flirting with her and she was about to encourage it.

“Alright, I’ll bite,” she teased.

“We should m-”

He was interrupted by a nurse running down the hall at full speed with a small cart.

“Emergency in room 403. Move it, Mizu!” The nurse spoke and Katara launched into action. She gave him a look, a _don’t move I’ll be back for you_ look. So he didn’t.

She rushed off after the other nurse, a whirlwind of white scrubs and brown hair, and ran into a room down the hall.

It was a few minutes before someone approached the nurse’s station again.

“Do you need something?” The voice this time was gruff, the nurse behind it stockier and angrier.

“Yeah, I came to pick up my uncle,” Zuko explained. “I’m waiting for-”

The nurse cut him off. “Katara, I know. I saw you making eyes at each other from the break room.”

Zuko’s face reddened significantly.

“At least you signed all the papers,” the nurse muttered. “I can take you to him, right this way.”

So he left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's back and trying to be consistent, it's this gal. lmk what y'all think bc i only proofread this twice


End file.
